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Appeared on: Thursday, March 28, 2002
VIA Technologies plans to expand to the DVD/CD-RW market

Chipset designer VIA Technologies Inc. hopes to generate revenue exceeding NT$40 billion in 2002 and NT$100 billion after five years, with a strategy to boost its competitive edge.Diversification into the DVD-player chipset business is one of the major parts of the Canaan Project. VIA will count on the new business to boost its revenue in 2002. The company's involvement in DVD-player chipset business is estimated to pose a threat to MediaTek Inc., currently Taiwan's largest brand name of the chipsets, according to VIA.

VIA executives said that the company's entry into the DVD-player chipset business will eventually help expand its market share and that it could not avoid launching a price war against MediaTek in initial stage.

VIA said it has set the goal of unseating MediaTek as the world's largest supplier of chipsets for optic disk players next year. The company will roll out chipsets for CD-RW players and DVD-RW players this year, following its introduction of chipsets for CD-ROM players.

VIA estimates that its February revenue slipped from that of January. The company expects its March revenue to return to the January level. (NT$34.99 = US$1).

It calls this strategy the Canaan Project. The company is now the world's second-largest chipset suppler, after Intel Corp.

VIA reported 2001 revenue of NT$34.1 billion, for an increase of 10.6 percent from a year earlier. The company hops its new marketing strategy can help its revenue rise 20 percent in each of the next two years and by 50 percent after two years. It expects to become the top chip designer in China after five years, with revenue of NT$100 billion.